Rolls-Royce SUV slated for late 2017 launch - report

Starting at 200,000 GBP

Company design boss Giles Taylor told Autocar work on the luxurious SUV is progressing and he believes such a model will not "undermine the Rolls-Royce brand." He expressed his desire in creating a functional body style like a shooting brake, rather than a crossover with a sloping roof.

Sources within Rolls-Royce have described the model as being "a kind of Mercedes GLK-plus-plus" with a starting price of 200,000 GBP. It is believed the vehicle will be slotted in the Ghost family instead of being based on the Phantom as it was previously thought.

The Rolls-Royce SUV will not come out before late 2017 and will have to tackle some fierce competition coming from the already confirmed Bentley SUV scheduled for a 2016 market launch, followed a year later by a plug-in hybrid derivative.

On Rolls-Royce's agenda are also a new Phantom slated for a 2017 release followed by an all-new Ghost in 2018.

Somehow I can accept RR SUV more than I can accept Bentley SUV. Big luxury cars is what RR was decades ago, before WW II. Even their first cars were long wide and quite high. Bentleys are much more focused on performance. And I can't accept performance and SUV in one sentence.